March 11 evening was a “dark one” for N C Srinivasa Murthy, a resident of BSK II Stage. It was the day when several of his electronic gadgets and electrical appliances - VCD player, cordless telephone and tubelights - went kaput. Reason: High voltage.

Mr Murthy lodged a written complaint with Bescom assistant executive engineer, S-9 sub-division, BSK II Stage on March 13. Since then, he has been running from pillar to post to claim compensation.

A Bescom engineer sent to his house for inspection confirmed the damage was caused due to high voltage. Mr Murthy was told to get the appliances repaired or replaced and submit bills to Bescom for claiming compensation.

Accordingly, he claimed Rs 4,356 as compensation on April 24. The assistant executive engineer forwarded his claim to executive engineer (electrical), south division, who referred the same to the general manager (technical) at Bescom corporate office.

It took three months for corporate office to react. However, Mr Murthy was shocked to receive a letter “dated June 25” on July 17, from Bescom, which said the power firm is unable to consider any claim for compensation as Bescom’s insurance cover was not renewed since January this year. “I complained to the chief engineer concerned thrice on the matter, but have received no satisfactory response,” he says.

As a last resort, Mr Murthy wants to write to Karnataka Electricity Regulatory Commission Chairman about the “behaviour” of Bescom officials.